Ebola cases are now nearing 1,000 — up from 750 as of May 22 — and are outpacing prevention operations.
“We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said May 25.
Here are the most recent updates about the Ebola outbreak.
1. As of May 25, there are more than 900 suspected Ebola cases and 220 suspected deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 101 confirmed cases and 10 confirmed deaths. In Uganda, there are five confirmed cases and one death.
2. The WHO upgraded its national risk assessment from high to very high, but said the global risk level is still low. The WHO said countries bordering the Congo are at high risk and should take immediate action.
3. There have been three attacks on hospitals treating Ebola patients in the last week, NPR reported. On May 24, men stormed a hospital and fired guns inside the facility, forcing medical staff to evacuate patients. On May 24, a group of locals set fire to a Doctors Without Borders tent for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases. On May 21, a medical center was burned after relatives were not allowed to take the body of a man suspected to have Ebola.
The attacks are linked to misinformation circulating on social media, which are slowing case investigations and limiting the ability of healthcare teams to reach affected communities, Marie Roseline Belizaire, MD, PhD, director of emergency response for WHO Africa, told UN News. Some of the anger stems from strict burial protocols of suspected Ebola victims. Funeral wakes with more than 50 people have been banned, and armed soldiers and police have been guarding burials carried out by health workers.
4. Due to fighting in the Congo’s provinces, more than 100,000 people are newly displaced and there is a significant distrust of outside authorities among the local population, according to UN News.
5. There are no vaccines for the Bundibugyo virus; however, there are two monoclonal antibodies that improve the chances of survival for people with the virus, according to Doctors Without Borders.
6. The six Americans who were exposed in the outbreak have all received monoclonal antibodies. Peter Stafford, MD, the American who tested positive for Ebola last week, is “doing a lot better,” according to The Washington Post.
7. The CDC is restricting entry to foreign travelers who were recently in countries impacted by the Ebola outbreak, and is funneling all U.S. passport holders and nationals returning from the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan within the last 21 days to Dulles Airport in Virginia, ABC News reported. There, they will be screened for symptoms and interviewed about possible exposure. Enhanced screenings will also begin at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. On May 22, the CDC announced that lawful permanent residents — green card holders — who have been in any of those three countries over the last 21 days will be barred from entering the U.S. temporarily.
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